Gauff surges from behind to claim Wuhan Open
In a tense all-American final, Coco Gauff turned a second-set deficit into triumph, outlasting Jessica Pegula to lift the Wuhan trophy and add a hard-court title to her season.
In the humid glow of Wuhan’s evening lights, Coco Gauff stared down a 5-3 deficit in the second set, the air thick with the crowd’s anticipation during this all-American showdown. The 21-year-old American, already crowned French Open champion on clay earlier in the year, channeled her resilience to hold serve and swing the momentum. She broke Jessica Pegula to love, leveling the score at 5-5 and setting the stage for a dramatic finish in the 6-4, 7-5 victory.
Pressure mounts amid baseline exchanges
Pegula, the 31-year-old sixth seed, had carried forward her semifinal grit after rallying past top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, using flat groundstrokes to pin Gauff deep on the hard court. Their head-to-head stood at 4-3 in Pegula’s favor entering this first final, a dynamic deepened by their WTA doubles partnerships. Yet Gauff’s returns gained bite, slicing crosscourt to disrupt the rhythm and force longer points where her footwork edged out her opponent’s.
The break arrived when Pegula’s serve wavered under the tension, allowing Gauff to level and seize control. As the set pushed toward its climax, the stadium’s energy surged with each one–two combination, Gauff mixing topspin drives with underspin to exploit the surface’s pace. Pegula’s consistency, so effective earlier, began to fray, her errors mounting in the crosscourt rallies that defined the middle games.
Match point seals tactical turnaround
Edging to 6-5, Gauff pressed with inside-out forehands that opened the court, drawing Pegula forward into a forehand volley that sailed wide on the first match point. Serving to stay in the match, Pegula faced a short second delivery, and Gauff ripped a down-the-line forehand winner after a brief rally to clinch the title. This marked Gauff’s second trophy of 2025 and 11th overall, lifting her finals record to 11-3 while Pegula fell to 9-11, forgoing a 10th career crown.
Gauff became the second American to win in Wuhan, echoing Venus Williams‘s success in 2015, a nod to her growing hard-court prowess. The final’s intensity captured the season’s demands, blending endurance with adaptive shot-making that neutralized Pegula’s baseline power. As confetti rained down, Gauff’s poise suggested fresh momentum for the tour’s closing stretch, where her blend of clay and hard-court triumphs positions her strongly in the year-end race.